From the World Heritage inscription for the Historic District of Old Quebec: Québec was founded by the French explorer Champlain in the early 17th century. It is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, together with the numerous bastions, gates and defensive works which still surround Old Québec. The Upper Town, built …
From the World Heritage inscription for Miguasha National Park: The palaeontological site of Miguasha National Park, in south-eastern Quebec on the southern coast of the Gaspé peninsula, is considered to be the world’s most outstanding illustration of the Devonian Period known as the ‘Age of Fishes’. Dating from 370 million years ago, the Upper Devonian …
From the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage inscription: A serial site – in Cape Province, South Africa – made up of eight protected areas, covering 553,000 ha, the Cape Floral Region is one of the richest areas for plants in the world. It represents less than 0.5% of the area of Africa but …
Curaçao is unique among the former Dutch colonies in the Caribbean. It has a very European flavor compared to nearby islands such as Aruba and Bonaire. Even today, there are more European tourists on Curaçao and Dutch is more actively spoken than on the nearby islands. Willemstad is the base for travels in Curacao, and …
From the Historic Center of Vienna World Heritage inscription: Vienna developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It played an essential role as a leading European music center, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. …
From the World Heritage inscription for the La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site: The main elements of the massive fortification of San Juan are La Fortaleza, the three forts of San Felipe del Morro, San Cristóbal and San Juan de la Cruz (El Cañuelo), and a large portion of the City Wall, built …
From the World Heritage inscription: Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe in terms of its setting on both banks of the Vltava River, its townscape of burger houses and palaces punctuated by towers, and its individual buildings.The Historic Centre represents a supreme manifestation of Medieval urbanism (the New Town of Emperor …
From the Holašovice Historical Village Reservation World Heritage inscription: Holašovice is an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a traditional central European village. It has a large number of outstanding 18th- and 19th-century vernacular buildings in a style known as South Bohemian Folk Baroque, and preserves a ground plan dating from the Middle Ages. I …
From the Historic Centre of Ceský Krumlov World Heritage inscription: Ceský Krumlov is an outstanding example of a central European small town dating from the Middle Ages that owes the structure and buildings of its historic core to its economic importance and relatively undisturbed organic development over some five centuries. The town grew up within …